Martins quietly made arena deal happen

ORLANDO MAGIC

The Magic executive worked tirelessly behind the scenes with city and county leaders to get the new arena OK'd.

August 12, 2007|By Shannon J. Owens, Sentinel Staff Writer

At first glance, the negotiations leading up to the historic Orange County Commission vote easily could have been mistaken for a television rerun of Let's Make a Deal. County leaders were going back and forth, trying to win favor for the largest public building project in Central Florida history -- including a $480 million downtown arena for the Orlando Magic.

And if there was any hope for the city's only major professional sports franchise to stick around, the NBA team's chief operating officer, Alex Martins, would have to deliver.

For two years, Martins drained the battery juice from his Blackberry as he negotiated deal after deal. He shook countless hands at too many meetings. Moments after his second daughter was born, he stood outside the hospital room to make more business calls.

So when the final vote was announced at 11:35 p.m. on July 26, the relief for Martins should have been palpable.

Only, it wasn't.

He gave a wide smile but was otherwise refined. His suit looked as if it were freshly steamed, even after a marathon meeting. His hair -- still slicked back -- illuminated even under the dim office lights.

Then, Martins delivered a company line usually reserved for a Disney movie. "It's a monumental day for Central Florida," he said. "History will look back on this day in the same light as when Walt Disney decided to bring his theme park to Central Florida."

It begs the question: Is he just another well-manicured robot executive or is there more?

"A lot of people question whether he's genuine when they first meet him," said John Saboor, president of the Central Florida Sports Commission. "We worked pretty closely together, and I can't say it enough. That's really him."

Martins, 43, is the picture of preparation. The man reads nonfiction motivation books, such as You don't need a title to be a leader: How anybody, anywhere can lead anytime, for pleasure.

So when the biggest moment in his 19-year sports career finally arrived, he did not rocket with emotion. And there was little else for anyone to say, except, "Congratulations."

"You have a hundred stories about the guy who thinks of himself first," said Scott O'Neil, chief marketing officer for the NBA. "But Alex is the kind of guy that puts his organization, colleagues and the city of Orlando before himself. You don't have 15 stories about that guy."

Magical beginning

O'Neil first heard about Martins when he worked for the Villanova media relations department, Martins' alma mater. Several people know the story of how Martins became the youngest public relations director in the NBA at age 24.

Good timing and a lot of hard work helped. Former 76ers general manager Pat Williams had assembled everyone on staff for the upstart franchise in Orlando, except a public relations director. Eight job candidates turned down the job, and Williams was getting anxious. It was 1989, and the season was about to start.

He called former Philadelphia Daily News reporter Dick Weiss for help. Weiss recommended Martins, who used to run statistics for the 76ers as a college student. Martins was working for the Georgetown media relations department at the time.

"I had ties older than Alex," Williams joked. "He was 24 years old and looked 16. We knew he was going to have to learn on the fly. Alex had to be 10-15 years younger than all of them [staff]. He worked until the last media had left."

Hard work is what Martins knew growing up in Kearny, N.J. His father, Manuel, worked two jobs, the main one at a General Motors factory, to put his sons, Alex, Nelson and Rick, through college. His mother, Dorothy, worked as a bank teller.

The Martinses were hopeful Alex would get a business degree, make good money and live the American dream -- much like they had. So his father did not initially understand Alex's detour into sports.

"When he was there [working full time for Georgetown], he said, `Daddy, they are going to open a new team in Orlando, and I'm going to apply,' " Manuel said with a thick Portuguese accent. "I said, `Doing what? You're not a basketball player?' "

His parents did not understand, but they trusted him. Alex never gave his parents a reason to worry. He was the type of kid who called home early if he would be late. He got good grades and never smoked -- though he asked his father to stop.

Alex was the kid parents hope for, focused and successful.

Learning the ropes

After he left the Magic in December 1998, he worked briefly for the Cleveland Browns. In the spring of 2000, he moved back to Orlando to get his MBA at the University of Central Florida. While there, he did some part-time consulting for the Magic, and the DeVos family even paid for his education because they believed in Martins so much.

After getting his MBA in 2001, he ran the New Orleans Hornets' marketing department. The Hornets needed an aggressive person to help create a fan base after the team moved from Charlotte.